SAVING BOB MARLEY FROM THE ‘INVISIBILITY’ OF UBIQUITOUS FAME

Director, a longtime fan of the reggae icon, set out to make the definitive film portrait

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“Marley” will stream on Facebook during its theatrical opening. Such day-and-date releases have become common for smaller independent films. But this will be the first such U.S. film to stream concurrently on the social media behemoth while opening in theaters.

The film was available for a $6.99 rental starting April 20, when it opened in some cities. A portion of the proceeds from Facebook sales will benefit Save the Children.

Associated Press

Bob Marley remains, as his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame biography attests, “reggae’s foremost practitioner and emissary.” More than 30 years after his death at 36, his estate still earns millions from sales of his music — his “Legend” greatest hits disc has sold more than 20 million copies, and counting — and the omnipresent T-shirt that bears his image.

“People love to listen to him at the beach, to hear ‘Three Little Birds’ or ‘One Love’ in parties,” says filmmaker Kevin Macdonald (“The Last King of Scotland,” “State of Play”). “ ‘Stir It Up’ plays in elevators, supermarkets. He’s become background music, background noise actually.”

And that’s what Macdonald wanted to change.

“I wanted to rescue Bob from that fate. If you become ubiquitous, you become invisible all over again, like at the beginning of your career. I wanted to understand Bob, understand his music, hear his music afresh.”

“Marley,” which opens here Friday, is a critically acclaimed new documentary about the Jamaican reggae icon. Macdonald was drawn to Marley’s music as a teen and vowed to spend years tracking down the people who never talk about Marley — friends, relatives and estranged band mates — to make the definitive film portrait of the singer/ songwriter/Rastafarian prophet.

“Bob really is the only Third World superstar,” Macdonald says. “Elvis grew up in poverty, but he grew up in the richest country in the world, at its richest time. The Beatles grew up working-class poor, but they had working TV sets in their homes. Bob Marley slept on a dirt floor, quit school at 12 and lived in REAL poverty — rural Jamaica.”

Macdonald found Marley’s first teacher, talked to his widow and surviving children and his mistresses. He got band mate Bunny Wailer to talk frankly about the man’s genius and his faults.